Renault Mulling Over Launching a Luxury Brand

Back in 2007, a well-planned three-way deal between Renault, Nissan and Daimler brought these three automotive powerhouses together. This deal wasn’t necessarily massive, as it only resulted in Daimler getting a 3.1 percent share of Nissan and Renault, and Nissan and Renault getting 1.55 percent of Daimler each. Basically this deal was just to allow the three automakers to freely share their technologies and testing.

It looks as if Renault is pretty close to calling on Daimler to make good on its deal, as Renault is working on a new flagship sedan that will use some Mercedes-Benz parts. This new flagship model is not all Renault is looking ahead to, as the French automaker is also debating releasing an entire lineup of luxury car with Daimler’s help.

The details are still rather sketchy, as they are still in preliminary talks and a lot of the information is from unconfirmed sources. One of the names for the new make that is being tossed around is Initiale Paris, which was once used on a 1995 Renault concept car.

Image Note: The images used are of the 1995 Initiale Paris concept car

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There are also talks that it may not be a full line of cars bearing a different name, almost like Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura, but rather a sub brand within Renault, sort of like the Equus by Hyundai. It’s sold by Hyundai, marketed by Hyundai, purchased in Hyundai showrooms, but never really touted as a Hyundai, if that makes any sense.

Either way, we would love to see a Renault Luxury line and if it bears Mercedes parts, there may be a chance of it making its way to the U.S. We would anticipate Daimler having a big role in the process to make sure Renault is focusing more on competing with the likes of Acura, Infiniti and Lexus, as opposed to directly competing with Mercedes-Benz.